@article{Lutfi2013,
title = {I Feel You: The Design and Evaluation of a Domotic Affect- Sensitive Spoken Conversational Agent},
author = {S. Lebai Lutfi and F. Fernández-Martínez and J. Lorenzo-Trueba and R. Barra-Chicote and J. M. Montero},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s130810519},
issn = {1424-8220},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-09-01},
journal = {Sensors},
volume = {13},
number = {8},
pages = {10519-10538},
abstract = {We describe the work on infusion of emotion into a limited-task autonomous spoken conversational agent situated in the domestic environment, using a need-inspired task-independent emotion model (NEMO). In order to demonstrate the generation of affect through the use of the model, we describe the work of integrating it with a natural-language mixed-initiative HiFi-control spoken conversational agent (SCA). NEMO and the host system communicate externally, removing the need for the Dialog Manager to be modiﬁed, as is done in most existing dialog systems, in order to be adaptive. The ﬁrst part of the paper concerns the integration between NEMO and the host agent. The second part summarizes the work on automatic affect prediction, namely, frustration and contentment, from dialog features, a non-conventional source, in the attempt of moving towards a more user-centric approach. The ﬁnal part reports the evaluation results obtained from a user study, in which both versions of the agent (non-adaptive and emotionally-adaptive) were compared. The results provide substantial evidences with respect to the beneﬁts of adding emotion in a spoken conversational agent, especially in mitigating users’ frustrations and, ultimately, improving their satisfaction.},
keywords = {affective agent, emotional speech, Speech synthesis, spoken conversational agents; evaluation}
}

We describe the work on infusion of emotion into a limited-task autonomous spoken conversational agent situated in the domestic environment, using a need-inspired task-independent emotion model (NEMO). In order to demonstrate the generation of affect through the use of the model, we describe the work of integrating it with a natural-language mixed-initiative HiFi-control spoken conversational agent (SCA). NEMO and the host system communicate externally, removing the need for the Dialog Manager to be modiﬁed, as is done in most existing dialog systems, in order to be adaptive. The ﬁrst part of the paper concerns the integration between NEMO and the host agent. The second part summarizes the work on automatic affect prediction, namely, frustration and contentment, from dialog features, a non-conventional source, in the attempt of moving towards a more user-centric approach. The ﬁnal part reports the evaluation results obtained from a user study, in which both versions of the agent (non-adaptive and emotionally-adaptive) were compared. The results provide substantial evidences with respect to the beneﬁts of adding emotion in a spoken conversational agent, especially in mitigating users’ frustrations and, ultimately, improving their satisfaction.